00:10 ID
Take a look. Take a look inside the book. Take a look...
00:24 S1
Hello and welcome to Hear This. I'm Frances Keyland, and you're listening to the Vision Australia Library radio show, where we talk about books on the In the Vision Australia Library collection. Today we're talking about library events with Maureen O'Reilly, community engagement coordinator. We're back with Maureen O'Reilly here in the studio on Hear This today. Hi, Maureen.
00:49 S2
Hey, Frances, how are you in this lovely new year?
00:52 S1
Oh, good. Thank you. Feeling quite refreshed.
00:54 S2
Yes. I'm feeling all very enthused for a new year. I think that, oh, we were just running on adrenaline by the time I got to December, so I've had a nice break, and now I've come back full of vigour.
01:06 S1
Oh, good. So you've got some events coming up, as we always do.
01:10 S2
We've got a busy year in front of us. We've got a million events. Well, not a million, but many events coming up. But we start in February - we have our in conversation with Emily Maguire, and that's going to be fabulous. Some of our... passionate listeners may remember that we did have a cameo appearance from Emily when we had an In Conversation with Les Pobjie last year, and Les is Emily's father, so we've got Emily back to have a starring role this time, and she's going to discuss her life, her writing, and her latest book Rapture - that is on Valentine's Day, which is also Library Lovers Day. So I felt we needed to do something for Library Lovers Day. And that's a 14th of February at 3 pm for an hour.
01:59 S1
Have you read Rapture yet?
02:00 S2
I'm in the midst of reading Rapture as we speak, So I will actually have the pleasure of interviewing Emily. So I need to know that book Inside Out. So I'm working my way through it, and it's it's really good. It's very intriguing. It's very complex. So I won't give anything away. But it is in the Vision Australia library... so it'd be great if everyone could have a bit of a listen before we have our In Conversation, and then you can post a whole lot of questions in the chat, or you can post questions on registration, and I can... attack Emily with all the questions from our fabulous listeners.
02:41 S1
Oh, that sounds terrific. Really good. And what else have we got?
02:44 S2
We have a brand new program coming up. So I'm very, very excited about this. We have our Book Chat with the Vision Australia Library. So that is on the 20th of February. And this is a new program. So it's a quarterly program. It's seasonal. So we're having our Sun-kissed Summer Bookchat, and that is from 1 to 2 p.m. on the 20th of February. So just after Valentine's Day and this is a whole new setup for us. So we will have Sarah Bladon coming to our first one, who is the Vision Australia library manager. And Sarah will be reviewing two books that she's been reading.
So they'll be two new release books and she will talk about the author. She will talk about their previous works that they've written, and then she'll give a warts and all review of the two books that she's been reading over the summer break. So it's really designed to give people an insight into what is out there and what they might like to be reading in the coming year. And then what we will do is we will go around all the attendees, only those that want to participate, and everyone will have their five minutes of fame and get to talk about a new release book that they've been reading or their favorite book. It doesn't need to be new. And again, give an overview if they know any insights about the author, if they know anything about previous works of that author, or they can just focus on that one book that they've read.
So we'll go around the group, and everyone who wants to will get to give a book review on one book. And then that way everyone can see some ideas of new reading material to pop onto their bookshelf. Then when we finish that, depending how many people were there and happy to share their thoughts on their latest read with us, we'll have a bit of a genre attack, so we'll have a discussion on a particular genre in each session. And the first session.
We're going to start with crime fiction because we know that that's incredibly popular with our members. So we thought, well, you might as well start where people's interests are, and we'll have a bit of a discussion about different crime fiction authors, different crime fiction books, the general genre in general. And then we'll have a quiz at the end based around crime fiction as well. Just a bit of fun. So it's a new program for us, and we're really hoping that people will come and bring a lot of thoughts and ideas to it, because it's really one that in many ways will be shaped by our members as they bring their input on the books that they've been reading.
05:29 S1
Yes, yes. So and working really as a team with the librarians... to, you know, make the libraries inclusive of everyone's tastes.
05:38 S2
And because it really is a community library, so it is I like to think it really is our members' library. So this way they get to share what they've been reading. And the odds are that that will be of interest to our other members as well.
05:52 S1
Yeah. No. Great. Fabulous. It sounds good.
05:55 S2
Yeah. And then we will have one... we'll have an autumnal April... we're having something for winter. I can't remember the lovely thing I said for that. And... a beautiful spring one as well. And each one will have a different librarian in it. All right. So Kylie, who is our children's librarian, will be doing our April session.
06:15 S1
Great. Oh. Sounds awesome. And... yeah, what else is... ?
06:20 S2
After that, we have our first writing course for the year. So we're doing Let's Get Creative with Fiction Writing, and that will commence on the 4th of March. And that will have... three lovely weekly sessions that will go through. And that is with Andrea Rose. So Andrea ran a children's fiction... writing course with us last year, and that was incredibly popular. And she's just such a gorgeous author. She's she's so generous and she has so much enthusiasm. So she's going to come back and it's it's got a very strong focus on writing from the senses. So really looking at how people can show rather than tell and draw on their experiences from a really different perspective in that way.
And we think that will resonate really well, particularly with our vision impaired members. So that will commence... I actually told a lie, there will be a four week program and that will be commencing on the 4th of March, and that will be from 2 to 3:30 p.m. for four consecutive weeks.
07:29 S1
That's fantastic. So there's still lots of time to enrol for these... all these events.
07:34 S2
And all of these can still be enrolled in... and that will be exciting because it's our first writing course for the year. And then we have another brand new program. We have a lot of brand new things this year, and this one's really come from feedback from our members. So our members love our conversations, which is why I'm sure we'll have a lot of them when we talk to Emily on the 14th of February. But the feedback we get is that people say, Oh, I would have loved to have heard the author read from their book. I would have loved to have heard them read a chapter or an excerpt from there. But there literally isn't time when I run the conversations we run over every single time, which is embarrassing, really.
So we've put together a series of author readings, Australian authors who are coming in, and it will start a little bit like an In Conversation. So we'll have an overview of the author, a little overview of their previous works. We've done a discussion of their latest release, and then they're going to read either one large excerpt, or they can read a couple of different ones with a different tone to them from their book. So they'll read for 20 to 30 minutes. And then at the end of that, we'll have questions for them, which will come from our members when they registered, or our members can put them in the online chat, or just questions that I want to attack them with as well.
So it's very much a focus on the author reading from their new release Us All, being able to sit back and enjoy that beautiful, passionate insight in the reading that only really can come from an author that's written it and has that beautiful passion for it. But it also will have elements of the In Conversation while we chat about their works and previous works, current work, and so on.
So our first author is Jacqueline Bublitz. So Jacqueline has put out a novel previously that was a resounding success, and that was Before You Knew My Name, and that was published in 21 and among many other awards, was the winner of the Australian Book Industry Award for General Fiction Book of the year. So that is no small feat. And in October last year she published her second novel, Leave the Girls Behind. So that is the one that we're going to be focusing on. And her first novel is in the Vision Australia Library, and the second one is in the process of being uploaded into the library.
10:02 S1
That's great. Yeah I know... Conrad Brown, I played an interview that he did with Jacqueline, on Hear This about a month ago. And... yeah, she's a fabulous author. And... that... debut fiction took the world by storm.
10:19 S2
Mm. Definitely. So nice to be able to come out and have your first book be seemingly an overnight success. But life isn't that easy. There's a lot of work in the background we don't see, but we're all really hoping that her second one is equally well received.
10:36 S1
Is there anything else, or should I just launch straight into what are you reading?
10:40 S2
Oh, well, there's actually no there's much, much, much more. However, to get details on the much more, they will all be progressively released throughout the year. So we have our... first newsletter for the year, coming out on the 1st of February over the weekend, and that will have details of the immediate upcoming events, whether they're reading events, writing events. It will also focus on things like our new library system.
It will focus on the VCE books, which are all in our Vision Australia library. The English books for the upcoming VCE year 12 students. We also have nearly all of the English Lit books for our current year 12 students. So we're very, very proud to be able to support our vision impaired... English and English literature students this year and every year. So all the details of everything that's happening in the library will be listed in that newsletter. So it comes out bi monthly. Always keeps everyone updated. But the other places, if you just go to our website, we progressively put up all of our events there as well.
11:53 S1
Yeah, yeah, there are so many ways to keep in touch with what's happening with the library, either by phone or the website. And yeah.
12:01 S2
So if people go to Vision Australia forward slash library, then they just scroll down to the What's On section, they'll see the upcoming events that are going to be on in February, March, and they are progressively updated as events finish and new events are starting and as our newsletter comes out. But the other thing they can see on our wonderful website is just before the What's On section, we have our library news section. And I happen to know there's a lovely interview with yourself under Library News.
12:36 S1
Oh, I know that was fun to do, just talking about books and things. So it was really lovely. Thank you for asking me.
12:43 S2
Oh look, I really encourage everyone to... on the Vision Australia Library website, click on News and the first news article you'll see there is celebrating World Radio Day with Frances.
12:54 S1
Yeah. 14th of February. It's coming up fast. I played a couple of books last week. That kind of relevant, but yeah.
13:01 S2
No. So it is really, really a fun interview. So I encourage everyone to jump on and have a look what Frances says. It's predominantly talking about here, this program, but also it gives a bit of an insight into Francis's reading.
13:16 S1
Oh no, thank you for that. It was fun to do thinking about, oh, what sort of books do I like and what is my favourite genre? Lovely. Anyway, moving on. What are you reading at the moment?
13:28 S2
Well, I am killing two birds with one stone, so I am enjoying reading Rapture. And the reason I'm reading Rapture is because I'm interviewing Emily McGuire for In Conversation. So I'm working my way through that, and then I'll also be chatting about it. For anyone that can't actually get to the In Conversation when we have our Sun-kissed Summer Book Chat. So I'll be there with our quarterly Book Chat. And although I'm not the librarian doing the big insight one. I will chat about my current book I'm reading. And what about yourself? What are you reading?
14:03 S1
Look, I started listening a couple of nights ago to this book. It's in the Vision Australia library collection. It's just called Slow Road to... oh, wait a minute. No, it's called Wall to Wall: a Woman's Travels from Beijing to Berlin. Yeah, it's just a really fascinating travel book. You know, about meeting the local people in different places. It's a part memoir because the person who wrote it, who is Mary Morris, is is going through a few things of her own, you know, encounters. So it's about her odyssey from starting at the Wall of China, walking through to the Berlin Wall, through half forgotten, isolated societies that lie between East and West.
So it was published in about 1995, so it might be a little bit outdated, you know, before mobile phones really, I guess, or they were around, but not. So there's things that might be a bit dated, but I've been finding it really fascinating. Yeah.
15:00 S2
And is it based on travel travels she did in 95, or was that when she wrote it?
15:06 S1
That is... I'm not quite sure about that. No that's okay. Good question. But... the narrator is lovely. Tara Maurice is the narrator. She's most well known for... famous ballroom movie that Australia, Baz Luhrmann. Yes.
15:21 S2
Yes, yes. Ballroom dancing.
15:23 S1
I know, I can't remember it.
15:25 S2
Strictly Ballroom.
15:27 S1
Okay. But anyway, so that she was the... main female protagonist in that. So she... her voice. Is that so? She's really good narrator. She's an actress, and yeah.
15:37 S2
Oh, that sounds wonderful. I love travel books because it just enables you to vicariously feel like you're traveling the world, and it inspires you to, even if you can't go and travel to at least do something outside of the norm. Something to challenge yourself, just to put yourself out there a little bit in your own world that you're living in now. And I think it's wonderful because not all of us have the luxury that we can fly to China and then work our way with, you know, an extended... one way ticket to Berlin.
And, you know, that is time consuming and it's expensive. And, you know, for a lot of people, it just may not be possible for many other reasons. So I think when you can read about other people's travels, one, you get that knowledge and enjoyment from it. But I just think it pushes you a little bit to do something that you can do differently in your own little life as well.
16:33 S1
Yeah, and I really enjoy it when they're walking, like there's a few books that we've got in the library collection about the Camino Trail. Yeah. And, you know, everybody does these things for their own reasons. For some, it's a spiritual journey. For some, it's just like a personal challenge. I want to do this. And, um, so those are always fascinating as well because there's always a, um, you need endurance to do these long travels. Yeah.
16:58 S2
I worked with a lady who did the Camino and for many personal reasons that she did it. And I remember when she got back because she had an amazing time, but she said the best thing that ever happened to her was what you'd think would be quite... a tragedy at the time was she flew into Rome and she lost her mobile phone. She got pickpocketed, she got... it was stolen, essentially. And that meant she lost all her contacts. She lost all her social media. She lost all her email. She lost everything. And because she was on quite a tight budget as well, she thought, I can't really afford to buy another one. And then she was like, I, she don't need one.
And she did the entire trial without any contact with anyone as in from home, friends, social media. Just having to talk to people when she's stopped in all the different accommodation. Talking to people along the way, talking to people when she stopped for lunch somewhere and doing a lot of self reflection and thinking and really enforced... socialising with people. And she said it was the best thing ever. And if she'd actually had her phone, the whole experience would have been very, very different.
18:16 S1
It would have, wouldn't it? Yeah. Wow. That's amazing. Oh, how do you... oh, you probably don't remember, but how long would it have taken her. Like I don't... yeah.
18:26 S2
I'm not sure because when I started working at that company she literally had just returned. So the same day I started, she came back to work. Right. So I'm not sure how long she went for, but I think it was quite extended because she walked the whole thing because a lot of people do segments of it.
18:43 S1
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, well done to her. Yeah.
18:46 S2
And she flushed her ex-partner out of her system, so I think she was happy about that.
18:50 S1
Brilliant. Yes. And that's, you know, again, there's just so many benefits that come that, you know, and insight that come and you can kind of follow that journey in travel books quite often those insights and. Yeah. Wonderful.
19:03 S2
So I think that is a library... done and dusted for the coming month or two.
19:09 S1
Yeah.
19:09 S2
So I would just suggest everyone... keeps an eye out for the upcoming newsletter and really put yourself out there and have a go with some of the new programs we're doing, because we have new writing programs with new authors hosting them. We have a lot of new reading... programs, and we have a lot of new people that are going to be involved. So it's very, very exciting year in front of us.
19:36 S1
It sounds wonderful. Thank you, Maureen, for coming in. And, yeah, we'll see you next week.
19:41 S2
Thank you. Next month. You'll see me next month. But thank you for having me and thank you for all your support over the past 17 years... nearly.
19:50 S1
Yeah, but I'm still as fresh and young as I ever was.
19:54 S2
Oh, yeah, you are definitely.
19:57 S1
I have a great time. Have a great month and see you next month.
19:59 S2
Thanks, Frances.
20:05 S1
Thank you once again to Maureen O'Reilly coming in to tell us about some fabulous library events that are coming up.
Now, I thought I would just play samples of a couple of the books that were mentioned today. The first one is Wall to Wall by Mary Morris. That's the one I've been reading. And she didn't walk from the Great Wall of China to the Berlin Wall. She actually took a train. So I did get that wrong in the body of the chat there. So this is the extraordinary account of Women's Odyssey from the wall of China to the Berlin Wall, through half forgotten, isolated societies that lie between East and West. This was published in print in 1991, but was based on travels done in around 1986, and she's booked her tickets. And then Chernobyl. That awful event happened. And so that's in the background of this book, which I found fascinating as she moves closer towards Russia. It does give it a anchor in history in a historical time and place. So let's hear a sample of Wall to Wall The Woman's Travels from Beijing to Berlin by Mary Morris. It's narrated by Tara Maurice.
21:08 S3
She came to me. She began taking food from one of my plates, stuffing it into her toothless mouth. Her face was wrinkled and looked as if it were covered with ash. She kept her eyes on me as she took the food the way a cat might do. Then she pointed to my plates with a wave of her hand. She asked if I intended to eat. No. I shook my head, motioning for her to help herself. She opened up her sack and I stared inside. I thought of China with a billion mouths to feed and this old woman foraging for food. I signaled for her to take it. She dumped all that was before me into her gunny sack, and I watched as it fell into the dark, fetid bag. Then she ambled away. Her sack over her shoulder filled with the day's pickings.
That night, back at the hotel, I could not sleep. I wandered down to the lobby and found a corridor I had not explored. Here I found a door leading to a Chinese garden, and I walked inside. There was a small pagoda filled with fish and lilypads floating on top of the water. 50 young Chinese, mostly male, stood around the edges of this garden. Suddenly the lights dimmed and a strobe light came on. I stood stock still as the Chinese began to stir. Huddling closer backs against the wall, the few women who were in the room wore short but traditional skirts, no makeup, their hair combed in long tresses down their backs. They giggled, turning their faces away. I had stumbled into some Chinese version of a mixer at a disco.
Now the music came on. Dire Straits sang Money for nothing, chicks for free. I longed to jump onto the floor and writhe. I waited to see if anyone was going to dance. But they all stood backs to the walls while the strobe illumined their faces. Bewildered, as if under interrogation.
23:12 S1
And that was wall to wall. A woman's travels from Beijing to Berlin. Mary is spelt [spells author's name]. And that book goes for eight hours and 15 minutes. And just looking very quickly. In the Kirkus Review, they say Morris's brand of travelogue is unique. Never a simple summoning up of pretty landscapes, but rather an intensely personal portrait of self in foreign climes, carrying a full load of emotional baggage. And she travels on the Trans-Siberian railroad, taking her through Mongolia, over the Urals to Moscow, Leningrad, and at last to Ukraine, which is the birthplace of her Russian Jewish grandmother.
And we also talked about the Camino Trail, and we do have quite a few books in the library from people who have undertaken this. And again, for whatever reasons, personal growth, spirituality in a belief in Christianity. So we have a book in the collection which is Spinning Across Spain. Walking the Camino. It's by Ailsa Piper. Spinning Across Spain is the story of Ailsa Piper's 1300km walk from the southern city of Granada to Galicia, the bathtub of Spain, in the far north west, carrying an unusual cargo. Aside from ten kilograms of practicalities, She also lugged a load of sins in her swag, in the tradition of medieval believers or scammers who paid others to carry their sins to holy places and so buy forgiveness.
Ailsa asked her colleagues and friends to donate a sin. She then shouldered them across country, being taunted and tempted by them along the way and trying to discover the mysteries of faith. What is faith? Did she have it? Could she get it? Would she know it if she saw it? Let's hear a sample of Ailsa Piper's singing across Spain. Walking the Camino. Walking 1200km from Granada to Galicia. With a swag full of sins was never going to be easy.
25:18 S4
But I didn't embark on the quest lightly. Over the years, I'd hiked a variety of Australian miles, whether along bayside tracks in Melbourne, Swan River paths in Perth, harbour circuits in Sydney, inland trails through central Victoria, the Overland Tracks Wilderness in In Tasmania or the desert sand of Uluru and the Larapinta. I'd also walked in Spain only seven months before I had undertaken the 780 kilometre Camino Francés, a pilgrim trail that crosses Spain from east to west, finishing at the cathedral in the medieval city of Santiago de Compostela.
It was late September northern autumn. The days were breezy and the skies clear. Villages were spaced along the track as evenly as beads on a Spanish Matron's rosary, and each offered the possibility of a hot café con leche, a stone seat under a shady tree, or an encounter with a local smiling and wishing me Buen camino, Buen camino, good road, good path, good. Walking the Camino Francés is best known because the Catholic Church grants indulgences forgiveness to those who walk it for religious reasons.
When I considered setting out on it, friends quizzed me about my reasons. Is this some spiritual endurance test with a few bedbugs for good measure. What is it you're looking for, El Dorado. You're not going off to find God, are you? Undoubtedly. I liked the idea of time and space for reflection, coupled with physical challenge and immersion in a different culture, but the indulgence I was seeking was definitely not religious. I wanted more. More of what I access in my walking.
27:13 S1
That was a sample of sitting across Spain walking the Camino by Ailsa Piper. Ailsa is [spells name]. The book goes for ten hours and 15 minutes. And I think the narrator is Ailsa Piper as well, though it doesn't have that detail in the in the library record here.
Thank you for joining us on here this today. And thank you to Maureen O'Reilly coming in with some exciting events. And just contact the library if you would like to know further about any of those events that were mentioned. If you would like to join the library, also, you can call 1300 654 656. That's 1300 654 656. Or you can email the library at Vision Australia. Org. That's library@visionaustralia.org ... Have a lovely week and we'll be back next week with more Hear This.
